Nightmare
by Alexis Night
Summary: They've finally come for Clark...


He tried to get away, but they were closing in on him from all sides. He couldn't run anymore, feeling sick from their proximity alone. Still, he tried, because deep down he knew this was the only chance he would get.

In the end it was hopeless. They pulled out all the stopes. There were helicopters and tanks, all to capture an innocent farm boy from Kansas. But that's not what they saw. They saw an alien to be experimented on and tortured, then there was the autopsy to conduct when he finally gave out.

Clark pulled himself along. He would not stop fighting. He had the right to be free like anyone else. But they didn't see Clark Kent, the person, when they looked at him. They saw a thing.

One of the men spoke into a walkie talkie. "We have it surrounded."

An it. He was reduced to an it.

A net was thrown at him, glowing green with death, and he was powerless to resist. He cried out in pain. "Let me go!"

Ignoring his protests, they hoisted the net up, the Kryptonite infused wire digging into his skin, causing blood to pool before dripping down to the farm he had spent his whole life on. "NO!"

Clark tried his hardest to resist, but what he saw when his eyes scanned for anything, or anyone, to help him, broke his spirit. His friends; Pete, Chloe, Lana; were looking at him with a mixture of disgust and fear. His parents looked disappointed. Their eyes seemed to say, 'If only you hadn't told,' and neither Jonathan nor Martha Kent lifted a finger to help their  
son.

As soon as he entered the helicopter people were on him, untangling him from the net and strapping him to a table. They started cutting away his clothes to get better access to experiment on him, to hurt him.

"Clark," the rasping voice caught his attention, and he turned to see a familiar, battered face.

Recognizing the person bound a few feet away from him, he started struggling anew. "Lex! Are you alright? Lex!"

Shaking his head, Lex rasped out, "I'm sorry, Clark. I tried. I didn't want to tell them, but I didn't have any choice." He shuddered, remembering just what lengths they had gone to to convince him to condemn his best friend.

Clark shook with fear and agony and rage. It was his fault. Everyone would be safe and happy if it wasn't for him. His parents would have adopted a human child they actually wanted, Lana and Pete and Chloe were disgusted with him, afraid of him, and Lex would be in his castle drinking scotch instead of tied up in a jet for the sole crime of knowing him. Would they go after his other friends next? His family? He wouldn't be able to save them this time. He would be trapped in some lab for however long he was able to live, subjected to agonizing tests.

"Clark." That didn't make sense. That was Lex's voice, but it was calm and reassuring instead of broken and remorseful. "Clark. Clark!"

He tried to pay attention, but the scientists were pulling him back. His shirt was in shreds now, and they raised a Kryptonite infused scalpel and began cutting his arm. He screamed and tried to pull away again, but it was no use.

Then Lex's voice was back. "Clark! Clark! It's alright! You're safe! It's alright!"

That didn't make any sense. He was far from safe. They began putting a tube through the incision in his arm. It started feeding Kryptonite into his system.

Clark shot up out of bed screaming. He looked around. It didn't look like his room. But then his eyes locked with Lex's and he remembered that he was spending the night at his friend's house, and the panic turned into heart-wrenching sobs.

Lex was really concerned now. The only other time he had seen Clark cry was when he had told him his secret, and that was a few tears slipping down his face. Now his seemingly fearless friend was sobbing uncontrollably. He reached out and put a hand on his shoulder. "It's okay, Clark. Calm down. It was only a dream." Lex pulled Clark into a hug. "Only a dream." Finally, Clark calmed down until it was just hitched breath and slight tears. "Do you want to talk about it?"

Taking a deep breath, he prepared himself to tell Lex. His parents always said it helped to talk about it, and since they weren't here, he would have to tell his best friend. "Th-they caught me. I-I tried to run, but they had s-so much K-kryptonite..."

"Who, Clark?" A deep frown adorned Lex's face. He didn't like the idea of this one bit.

"I-I don't k-know. They were everywhere, though. They had tanks, and helicopters, and planes. T-t-they threw a K-kryptonite n-net over me. It burned. Then they started pulling me away from the farm, and-and, m-my p-parents di-didn't t-try to h-help me. Th-they just looked disappointed. And Pete and Lana and Chloe looked s-so d-disgusted. Then I was in the plane, and t-t-they strapped me down to a t-table and s-started cutting me open, and you... Y-you..."

Lex's blood ran cold. "Did I do that to you, Clark?"

The teenager shook his head violently, and Lex felt at least fractionally better. "T-they t-t-t-took y-you, too. Y-you w-were the one who t-told them. They t-t-t-t-t-tortured you, and it was all my fault. If it wasn't for me, M-mom and D-dad would've, they would've adopted a kid they really wanted, a kid who was human, and you would've b-been safe at home in the castle, a-and Lana and Chloe and Pete... It was all my fault. A-and then they started f-feeding a tube through the cut on my arm, and it h-hurt so bad. B-but that was nothing. Th-they sent Kryptonite i-into it. I-it was like th-there was f-fire in my b-blood..."

Clark broke down in tears again. Lex was horrified. Clark's nightmares were so violent and graphic, and they were made from a true, legitimate fear. 'Not if I have anything to say about it.' "No amount of torture in the world could make me reveal your secret to anyone. If you weren't here, I wouldn't have been safe at home. I would have been dead long before that after driving my car off a bridge. Your parents love you so much. They would do anything in their power to get you back. And if Pete and Chloe and Lana couldn't accept you, they were never your friends to begin with. Nothing like that will ever happen, Clark. If someone so much as tried it, every resource available to me would go into stopping them. But it would never even come to that, because nothing could ever make me tell. Okay?"

The boy nodded shakily against his arm. "I-it seems so real... Every time..."

Lex looked down at Clark. "You've had this nightmare before?"

He nodded again. "Y-you used to be with my other friends, before I told you, but ya. I've had that nightmare since my parents warned me about telling people or showing off my powers. Not very often, but every once in a while it just gets to me."

"Well, you're safe here, now, with me. I'm not going to let anyone hurt you, okay?" Lex's eyes held deep sincerity and concern. He never would've guessed the generally happy person that is Clark Kent could be this haunted.

"Ya." Clark's voice was still hoarse from crying, and he felt slightly embarrassed for seeming so vulnerable in front of his friend, but he needed the reassurance. "Sorry I woke you up."

Lex rolled his eyes. "Seriously, Clark. Don't worry about it. You would've done the same for me."

He would have, but that didn't make it less embarrassing. "Okay."

Sighing, Lex stood up and looked around. He took in Clark's exhausted posture. They had had a long day, and from this planet or not, Clark was just a teenager. "You think you could go back to sleep?"

Hesitantly, Clark nodded. He was actually terrified to go back to bed, but something wouldn't let him admit that. "Ya. I'll be fine, Lex. Thanks."

Lex was hesitant to leave it at that. But, even though he could tell he was scared, Clark desperately needed sleep, and he could always wake him up if he was having another nightmare. "Alright. Night, Clark"

"Night, Lex." he mumbled back sleepily.

He tried to get away, but they were closing in on him from all sides. He couldn't run anymore, feeling sick from their proximity alone. Still, he tried, because deep down he knew this was the only chance he would get.

In the end it was hopeless. They pulled out all the stopes. There were helicopters and tanks, all to capture an innocent farm boy from Kansas. But that's not what they saw. They saw an alien to be experimented on and tortured, then there was the autopsy to conduct when he finally gave out.

Clark pulled himself along. He would not stop fighting. He had the right to be free like anyone else. But they didn't see Clark Kent, the person, when they looked at him. They saw a thing.

One of the men spoke into a walkie talkie. "We have it surrounded."

An it. He was reduced to an it.

A net was thrown at him, glowing green with death, and he was powerless to resist. He cried out in pain. "Let me go!"

Ignoring his protests, they hoisted the net up, the Kryptonite infused wire digging into his skin, causing blood to pool before dripping down to the farm he had spent his whole life on. "NO!"

What he saw when he scanned for anything, or anyone, to help him, gave him the strength to keep fighting. His parents were violently fighting the people who had come for him, demanding their son be released. Pete, Chloe, and Lana all were trying to get around the guards while they were preoccupied with his parents. He struggled against the burning pain as he was hoisted into the jet.

They strapped him to a table and started cutting away his clothes to get better access to experiment on him, to hurt him, but what he saw from the door of the plane gave him even more hope. Another army, this one bearing the Luthor insignia, was coming, Lex at the lead. They quickly took care of the people on the ground. Just as they started to cut his arm open, Lex and his men boarded the plane.

The billionaire ran over to his young friend, his concern evident. "Clark! Are you alright?" Lex started to untie him, intent on getting him out of the plane that was glowing green with death.

Clark's breathing was heavy, labored. "Lex. You came."

The three words were uttered just as Lex was going to wake his friend again. "Lex. You came."

A small smile found its way to his lips. "Of course I did, Clark. I'll always come."


End file.
